Poetry and Cars by jamies

Buffy and William had developed an easy friendship. They had laughed over their respective parents' attempts to keep their blossoming romance a secret. They had spent time on his precious deSoto car - next week it was going for a complete respray - and William was proud of how well it had come back together. He had bought it off Willow and Tara when they had noticed just how much he loved spending time on it.

Giles was enjoying his new job. Despite the fact that he had more money than he could ever possibly spend in three lifetimes, he needed to work. The library at the high school had never been so well organised or supplied; luckily the headmaster wasn't some little toad of a man that resented the well read and highly educated man, but a forward thinking, progressive African American by the name of Robin Wood. The man wanted to improve the school's appalling grades and number of children being excluded.

Buffy lay on William's bed, watching him sort out the boxes he had been working on... piles of books he still hadn't sorted through since his move. The box containing his note books slowed down the task as William tried to shake off the memories it brought up. Buffy watched his changing face; he seemed to be a world away from her at that moment and she wondered what had made him go into his own thoughts like that. William threw the note book onto the bed by her side and she picked it up.
William didn't notice as he continued to go through the books and boxes. The CD player stopped and he used the remote to start the music again. Buffy loved the way she never knew what sort of music would be played next. William was always surprising her with his choices and taste. He would play the Ramones and then Mozart; Janus, then a band that Buffy had never heard of before. They had spent many happy hours just listening to music and talking, ''putting the world to rights” as Giles had put it. She looked at the book again; Buffy was so tempted to open the note book, it didn't look like a diary... but you could never know.

'William: can I look at this?' she asked and William looked up from his place on the floor. 'What?'

'This book, can I look at it?'

'Yes, sure, its only an old ideas book,' William tried to explain, but he seemed uncomfortable with her inquisitiveness.

'It's OK William, I won't look; I didn't mean to make it awkward. Anyway I've got to go, I'm supposed to meet Faith at the Magic Box this afternoon,' she said quietly, as though he had scared her with his attitude.

'Sorry pet, you look if you want: it's just some ideas I had for poems and such like.' He smiled at his young friend. 'I'll drive you, the deSoto needs a run out.' He shook his head as she tried to hand back the book. 'You keep it, tell me what you think later.'

The deSoto started after a few tries and William had been cursing under his breath. He tried not to notice the cheerleaders' uniform she was wearing, the skirt was far too short for him to concentrate on his driving and he nearly ran a red light. The emergency stop had prevented a ticket but Buffy had hit her head on the vanity mirror above the windscreen; she rubbed the spot, it would leave a bruise in the morning.

'Sorry about that,' William hadn't done anything so stupid in years and felt really foolish.

It only took a couple more minutes of very careful driving for the car to be pulling up outside the ramshackle store front that led to the safe haven that meant sanctuary for so many. The paint was peeling and the security shutters looked like they had seen better days. William locked the car before following the short skirt and long legs into the shop.

'Hiya Blondie!' A tall, slim brunette jumped down a couple of steps from a balcony area that seemed to house an office. 'The girls are waiting in the back for you to arrive.'

'Thanks Faith, this is William,' Buffy added before running through a steel door and vanishing into the shop.

'Hi William, I'll be with you in a minute; I'm Faith,' she said as she pinned up a couple of notices on the board. The woman was struggling a little, trying to hold posters with one hand and drawing pins with another. William went over and helped her catch the escaping bits of paper.

'Thanks, could you pin that one up there?' She pointed to an empty space on the board and carried on pinning up her own supply. William read the paper as he pushed the pins into the cork.

Fund raiser. Magic box needs you,
talent night....

Saturday April 3rd

8pm

Another one was for a counselling service that would see any teenagers recommended from the Magic Box for free. A third gave details of a homosexual, lesbian and bisexual help line.

And there was a bigger poster advertising the fund raising ball at the Sunnydale Hotel.

William watched Faith try and fit all the posters onto the board and tried not to laugh. She was balancing on one leg and William had to make a dive to save her from falling as the chair she was standing on started to topple over.

'Thanks Blondie, nice save, now if you'd just let go of the goods? She looked pointedly at his arms wrapped around her waist. William blushed slightly and let her go before righting the chair and sitting in it.

Faith looked at the board, all the posters were up.

'Fancy a coffee?' she asked him and William nodded. She led the way into a small back room and poured two cups of strong coffee; passing one to William she nodded towards the sugar and milk.

'Help yourself,' she said as she sipped her coffee.

William shook his head. 'No thanks, I take it straight.'

'Nice move with the save, I owe you one.'

'No problem, I wouldn't want you to get hurt.'

'You seemed quick...'

'Practice.'

She just nodded and reached for her cigarettes. Offering one to William she sat in companionable silence for a few seconds before she went to light her smoke. William threw her his zippo and she snatched it out of the air.

'Spike?' She asked, noticing the engraving.

'Nick-name,' he told her before pocketing the lighter. What ever Faith was about to say was interrupted by the telephone ringing and Faith returning to her work. William wandered out of the shop; glancing at his watch he knew he had nearly two hours before Buffy would be free to head home so he entertained himself in the local book shop.

Buffy came out of the Magic Box slowly, favouring one leg and limping slightly. William had been waiting, leaning against a wall, but hurried over to her as soon as he saw her. 'You OK, pet?' He asked solicitously.

'Mhmm: just caught my ankle doing a back flip,' she told him, grateful for the arm he offered to help get her to the car. She was obviously in pain and William ignored her squeak and swept her into his arms and carried her the rest of the way.

Joyce was out when they arrived home so William took Buffy across to his house rather than root around in someone else's cupboard. Buffy tried to ignore him as he put the ice pack on her swollen ankle. Being carried in his arms had awoken all sorts of feelings in her mind she wasn't quite sure she was ready to deal with just yet. It was comforting and scary all at the same time.

'Ouch,' she told him as he placed her foot onto a cushion.

'Sorry, now you just stay there and I'll get you some juice to rehydrate you: anything in particular?'

'Grapefruit if you have it,' she said, trying to reach the magazine on the table. She couldn't quite get it but knocked off another of the black note books that seemed to be all around the house. She didn't mean to pry but it was filled with William's neat, slightly old fashioned hand writing and she was curious. She just had to sneak a peak.

Poetry: the book was filled with poems. One in particular caught her eye:

The way you're bathed in light
Reminds me of that night
God laid me down into your rose garden of trust
And I was swept away
With nothin' left to say
Some helpless fool
Yeah I was lost in a swoon of peace
You're all I need to find
So when the time is right
Come to me sweetly, come to me
Come to me

Love will lead us, alright
Love will lead us, she will lead us
Can you hear the dolphin's cry?
See the road rise up to meet us
It's in the air we breathe tonight
Love will lead us, she will lead us

Oh yeah, we meet again
It's like we never left
Time in between was just a dream
Did we leave this place?
This crazy fog surrounds me
You wrap your legs around me
All I can do to try and breathe
Let me breathe so that I
So we can go together!

Love will lead us, alright
Love will lead us, she will lead us
Can you hear the dolphin's cry?
See the road rise up to meet us
It's in the air we breathe tonight
Love will lead us, she will lead us

Life is like a shooting star
It don't matter who you are
If you only run for cover, it's just a waste of time
We are lost 'til we are found
This phoenix rises up from the ground
And all these wars are over

Over
Over
Singin' la da da, da da da
Over
Come to me
Singin' la da da da, da da da
Come to me

She thought it was beautiful, she could almost hear the music play behind the words as she read them. She spent the few minutes he took to get the drink just flicking through the beautiful words he had written.